Can't quit caffeine while pregnant? Silly study blames alcoholism
6th Dec 2005, 05:34 GMT
A couple months ago, we decided to ramp down the amount of coverage we gave to new scientific studies regarding pregnancy and kids’ health. Our reasons were two-fold. First, single studies don’t tell us much - it’s only after years of research that we’re confident enough to draw solid correlations between phenomena. Second, most studies are crap. Either their sample sizes are too small, or their methodology is flawed, or their setup includes confirmation bias (i.e., the studies prove what their authors want them to prove). Take this recent study from John Hopkins University, which claims to know why some pregnant women have a problem kicking the Starbucks monkey off their back: a history of alcoholism in their families. The study “showed” that half of the women with a history of alcoholism in their families found it harder to stay within their doctor’s recommended caffeine intake. The problem (besides the inherent subjectivity of “harder”, of course)? The study included a meager 44 pregnant women, half of whom were a control group without a history of alcoholism. In short, out of the millions of pregnant women in the world, they looked at 22. Now, the study’s contention may eventually prove true. Or, it may turn out that there’s an underlying common cause - a psychological predilection for addiction, perhaps, rooted in one’s wiring. But why jump to conclusions? Why do the media and academia continue to waste our time with single studies whose sample size could fit in the trunk of a station wagon? Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments © 2005 Weblogs, Inc.
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